Most filmmakers only really get going when the pain of not making a movie finally boils over to the point where it exceeds the pain of making a movie. And once this pivotal point-of-no-return is reached, the accumulated velocity of ambition will not allow petty inconveniences to impede the ultimate realization of its goal. Not even a punishing lack of start-up capital–or even, it turns out, a torrential Southern California downpour choking the streets of LA to a frigid standstill.
So despite being rescheduled from February 6 due to an aggressive late-winter rainfall, Fi’s Filmmaker Tuesday session, The Evolution of Microbudget Filmmaking, finally happened last week on March 19, featuring a panel of four acclaimed indie producers and directors (not to mention Fi Fellows!) who have all managed to make big waves with their work despite microscopic production budgets. They were: Iram Parveen Bilal, Ron Najor, Gia Rigoli and Avril Speaks.
So despite being rescheduled from February 6 due to an aggressive late-winter rainfall, Fi’s Filmmaker Tuesday session, The Evolution of Microbudget Filmmaking, finally happened last week on March 19, featuring a panel of four acclaimed indie producers and directors (not to mention Fi Fellows!) who have all managed to make big waves with their work despite microscopic production budgets. They were: Iram Parveen Bilal, Ron Najor, Gia Rigoli and Avril Speaks.
- 6/19/2024
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Next week marks Charles Burnett’s 80th birthday, which the filmmaker will celebrate tonight in long-gestating style: by premiering the restoration of his “The Annihilation of Fish” in Los Angeles. Burnett first premiered the film at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, and for 25 years he’s struggled to get it in front of audiences.
“I’m curious, because it’s been locked away for a very long time for all sort of reasons and you sort of wonder if it’s still relevant, how audiences are going to take it,” Burnett told IndieWire on the eve of his birthday and tonight’s screening.
Tonight’s free screening is part of the UCLA Festival of Preservation, a full circle moment for Burnett, who learned his craft at UCLA’s film school. Fifty years later, his alma mater helped restore a film that, at times, looked like it might be locked in a Technicolor vault forever.
“I’m curious, because it’s been locked away for a very long time for all sort of reasons and you sort of wonder if it’s still relevant, how audiences are going to take it,” Burnett told IndieWire on the eve of his birthday and tonight’s screening.
Tonight’s free screening is part of the UCLA Festival of Preservation, a full circle moment for Burnett, who learned his craft at UCLA’s film school. Fifty years later, his alma mater helped restore a film that, at times, looked like it might be locked in a Technicolor vault forever.
- 4/5/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Kino Lorber, at the Lumiére Festival and International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon with a number of new restorations, including Stanley Kubrick’s “Fear and Desire,” will next release Bridgett M. Davis’ 1996 drama “Naked Acts” and a complete retrospective of Oscar Micheaux, the first black filmmaker.
Also headed for release is “The Dragon Painter,” a rare, 1919 silent film with an all Asian cast, with the feel of an old Japanese film but entirely shot in the San Francisco area. It stars Sessue Hayakawa, who produced it himself, as well as his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki.
Kino Lorber is partnering with Milestone Films to release “The Dragon Painter” in 4K in 2024 with a new score.
Likewise set for a 4K release next year in partnership with Milestone is “Naked Acts,” which follows young Black actress Cicely, who is about to make her acting debut in a low budget film. As...
Also headed for release is “The Dragon Painter,” a rare, 1919 silent film with an all Asian cast, with the feel of an old Japanese film but entirely shot in the San Francisco area. It stars Sessue Hayakawa, who produced it himself, as well as his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki.
Kino Lorber is partnering with Milestone Films to release “The Dragon Painter” in 4K in 2024 with a new score.
Likewise set for a 4K release next year in partnership with Milestone is “Naked Acts,” which follows young Black actress Cicely, who is about to make her acting debut in a low budget film. As...
- 10/18/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Charles Burnett is best known for his landmark portraits of Black American life, from the aching neorealism of “Killer of Sheep” to the mordant mysticism of “To Sleep with Anger,” his films aim to depict the broken contract the country made with its African American citizens in the aftermath of World War II.
His lesser-known masterpiece “My Brother’s Wedding,” however, is emblematic of a different continuum running through Burnett’s films: the theme of becoming.
An intimate window into early ’80s Los Angeles, where confluences of Black Southern roots were still trying to flower in a hostile urban environment — “My Brother’s Wedding” is a heated tale about the perils of upward mobility, the rising drug epidemic, and the tight alliance shared by two Black men, Pierce (Everett Silas) and Soldier (Ronnie Bell), the latter of whom has just been released from prison as the film begins.
Young and proudly working-class,...
His lesser-known masterpiece “My Brother’s Wedding,” however, is emblematic of a different continuum running through Burnett’s films: the theme of becoming.
An intimate window into early ’80s Los Angeles, where confluences of Black Southern roots were still trying to flower in a hostile urban environment — “My Brother’s Wedding” is a heated tale about the perils of upward mobility, the rising drug epidemic, and the tight alliance shared by two Black men, Pierce (Everett Silas) and Soldier (Ronnie Bell), the latter of whom has just been released from prison as the film begins.
Young and proudly working-class,...
- 8/17/2023
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
A low-key, poetic exploration of life’s ironies, Monica Sorelle’s feature debut Mountains frames the disappearance of Miami’s Little Haiti with a warm, compassionate gaze recalling the masters of social realism––akin to Roberto Rossellini with the touch of Ousmane Sembène’s lighter films. With a title drawn from a Haitian proverb “behind mountains there are mountains,” the film retains a light touch, somewhat more sad than mad as Little Haiti disappears in the city’s building boom. A modest dream home is unobtainable once the real estate vultures circle the neighborhood and Xavier Sr. (Atibon Nazaire), a demolition worker, plays a role in changing his neighborhood permanently, making way for young Whole Foods-shopping professionals to displace families and small businesses.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
- 6/12/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
While we’ve known the results of Jeanne Dielman Tops Sight and Sound‘s 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time List”>Sight & Sound’s once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll for a few months now, the recent release of the individual ballots has given data-crunching cinephiles a new opportunity to dive deeper. We have Letterboxd lists detailing all 4,400+ films that received at least one vote and another expanding the directors poll, spreadsheets calculating every entry, and now a list ranking how many votes individual directors received for their films.
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
- 3/5/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Teetering between tense drama and full-blown horror, the genius of Mariama Diallo’s “Master” is how it gaslights the audience as much its characters. A stark social satire wrapped in chilling horror, the film keeps everyone guessing who is seeing things and who is just blind to reality.
Set at an elite academic institution in Massachusetts, “Master” — now streaming on Prime Video after a very well-received premiere at Sundance in January — follows three Black women in different positions of power. From the jump, the specter of institutional racism pervades every scene, whether in not-so-subtle micro-aggressions or dusty racist memorabilia. Much like it must feel for Black people to exist in a racist society, these markers of white supremacy can pop up at any time and any place.
The film centers on a professor named Gail Bishop (Regina Hall), who has recently been promoted to the college’s top honor of “House Master.
Set at an elite academic institution in Massachusetts, “Master” — now streaming on Prime Video after a very well-received premiere at Sundance in January — follows three Black women in different positions of power. From the jump, the specter of institutional racism pervades every scene, whether in not-so-subtle micro-aggressions or dusty racist memorabilia. Much like it must feel for Black people to exist in a racist society, these markers of white supremacy can pop up at any time and any place.
The film centers on a professor named Gail Bishop (Regina Hall), who has recently been promoted to the college’s top honor of “House Master.
- 3/18/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Francis Ford Coppola for Wall Street Journal. (Photographed by Austin Hargrave) In a new interview with Deadline, Francis Ford Coppola has announced that he's starting to assemble a cast and prepare financing for his long-gestating passion project, the epic film Megalopolis. "I’m still willing to do the dream picture, even if I have to put up my own money, and I am capable of putting up $100 million if I have to here." Hou Hsiao-hsien and Lee Kang-sheng are currently attached to Twisted Strings, a TV anthology series written and directed by Huang Xi. Hou will be the executive producer of the series, while Lee will star in a role that is "like nothing he had ever portrayed before." Kaycee Moore, the star of Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, has died. Throughout her career,...
- 9/1/2021
- MUBI
Kaycee Moore, star of “Killer of Sheep” and “Bless Their Little Hearts,” died on Aug. 13. She was 77.
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Moore met director Charles Burnett while he was still in film school at UCLA, booked her first major role as Stan’s wife in his 1978 film “Killer of Sheep.” Burnett received an honorary Oscar in 2018 for his films such as “Killer of Sheep,” which depicted the realities of socioeconomic oppression faced by the Black community in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Five years later, Moore starred as Andais Banks in “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was written by Burnett and directed by Billy Woodberry. The film, which followed a family in Watts as it navigates race, money and gender, was met with critical acclaim.
Moore also appeared in Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” and the 1999 film “Ninth Street,” directed by Tim Rebman and Kevin Willmott.
Three...
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Moore met director Charles Burnett while he was still in film school at UCLA, booked her first major role as Stan’s wife in his 1978 film “Killer of Sheep.” Burnett received an honorary Oscar in 2018 for his films such as “Killer of Sheep,” which depicted the realities of socioeconomic oppression faced by the Black community in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Five years later, Moore starred as Andais Banks in “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was written by Burnett and directed by Billy Woodberry. The film, which followed a family in Watts as it navigates race, money and gender, was met with critical acclaim.
Moore also appeared in Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” and the 1999 film “Ninth Street,” directed by Tim Rebman and Kevin Willmott.
Three...
- 8/25/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Above: Hour Glass (1971)Film scholar Clyde Taylor coined the name "L.A. Rebellion” for a retrospective of the Black cinema made at UCLA between the 1960s and 80s that was held at the Whitney Museum in 1986. The name conflates the filmmakers’ radical aesthetics with the Watts Rebellion and Black Power and Civil Rights Movements. It does not account for the Asian, Latinx, Native American and white film students who also sought styles outside the Hollywood formula, and remains a point of contention for some of those Black filmmakers it gathers under one denomination. “Rebellion” suggests a collective response to the status quo, rather than a series of independent expressions with diverse influences and motivations. But the slogan stuck, and, for better or worse, remains the most common calling card for a...
- 2/3/2021
- MUBI
Actress Carrie Coon joins Josh and Joe to discuss the Best of what she’s been watching during the pandemic.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Nest (2020)
Gone Girl (2014)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Sabrina (1954)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Opening Night (1977)
Husbands (1971)
Too Late Blues (1961)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Faces (1968)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Gloria (1980)
Mephisto (1981)
The Cremator (1969)
Zama (2017)
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)
Wanda (1970)
Blue Collar (1978)
The Lunchbox (2013)
63 Up (2019)
To Sleep With Anger (1990)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
The Glass Shield (1994)
My Brother’s Wedding (1983)
Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
The Magician (1958)
The Silence (1963)
The Magic Flute (1975)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Virgin Spring (1963)
Summer with Monika (1953)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Black Girl (1966)
Fat Girl (2001)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Parasite (2019)
Jesus of Montreal (1989)
Other Notable Items...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Nest (2020)
Gone Girl (2014)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Sabrina (1954)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Opening Night (1977)
Husbands (1971)
Too Late Blues (1961)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Faces (1968)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Gloria (1980)
Mephisto (1981)
The Cremator (1969)
Zama (2017)
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)
Wanda (1970)
Blue Collar (1978)
The Lunchbox (2013)
63 Up (2019)
To Sleep With Anger (1990)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
The Glass Shield (1994)
My Brother’s Wedding (1983)
Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
The Magician (1958)
The Silence (1963)
The Magic Flute (1975)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Virgin Spring (1963)
Summer with Monika (1953)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Black Girl (1966)
Fat Girl (2001)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Parasite (2019)
Jesus of Montreal (1989)
Other Notable Items...
- 11/17/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
‘To Sleep With Anger’: Charles Burnett’s Divine Comedy And Career-Long ‘Rebellion’ [Be Reel Podcast]
For the 30th anniversary of “To Sleep with Anger” (1990), Be Reel dives into the work of principal “L.A. Rebellion” director Charles Burnett.
Part of the first generation of Black directors to come out of American film school, Burnett brought a daring cinematographer’s eye and a watchful activist’s pen to films like “Killer of Sheep” (1978) and “The Glass Shield” (1994).
Continue reading ‘To Sleep With Anger’: Charles Burnett’s Divine Comedy And Career-Long ‘Rebellion’ [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.
Part of the first generation of Black directors to come out of American film school, Burnett brought a daring cinematographer’s eye and a watchful activist’s pen to films like “Killer of Sheep” (1978) and “The Glass Shield” (1994).
Continue reading ‘To Sleep With Anger’: Charles Burnett’s Divine Comedy And Career-Long ‘Rebellion’ [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.
- 10/12/2020
- by Chance Solem-Pfeifer
- The Playlist
“Is all or a portion of your spouse's income deposited in a checking account, joint checking account, your spouse's separate checking savings account, your separate checking and savings account…?” The administrator's tedious voice continues in this fashion, stern and unforgiving. More questions concerning money, welfare checks, and the daily American grind, asked by faceless system operators on the other end of a telephone line build layers of sound on top of metallic instruments, bells, and the buzzing of Los Angeles and the advertisements of an American dream. The dissonance of this swirling sound design, the intro of Haile Gerima’s Bush Mama (1979), takes one specifically to a place, a class, and a people: The Black working class experience, the sounds of a restless city. The opening of this mixtape encapsulates the vitality and experimentation of sound design and music in the films of the L.A. Rebellion, a film movement...
- 9/27/2020
- MUBI
The New York Times put prestigious specialty home-video distributor The Criterion Collection under a microscope late last week, and the headline said it all: “How the Criterion Collection Crops Out African-American Directors.” The report looked at all 22 years and more than 1,000 titles in the Criterion’s revered selection of Blu-rays and DVDs of films, finding that only four African Americans are represented: Oscar Micheaux (“Body and Soul”); William Greaves; Charles Burnett (“To Sleep With Anger”); and Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing” and “Bamboozled”).
It’s a glaring omission for a company that prides itself on licensing and releasing what it describes as “important classic and contemporary films,” but also reflective of an industry-wide practice of shutting out Black filmmakers.
Despite America’s changing demographics, the industry’s most powerful leaders have been slow to respond to a demand for films that reflect cultural and racial shifts that have long been underway.
It’s a glaring omission for a company that prides itself on licensing and releasing what it describes as “important classic and contemporary films,” but also reflective of an industry-wide practice of shutting out Black filmmakers.
Despite America’s changing demographics, the industry’s most powerful leaders have been slow to respond to a demand for films that reflect cultural and racial shifts that have long been underway.
- 8/25/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Around the nation, protesters continue to march against racial injustice, despite a deadly pandemic that has already ended more than 163,000 American lives, disproportionately affecting Black people. This has given rise to a vast American reckoning with racism, as countless episodes of police brutality against Black Americans, and protesters in general, are captured on video.
Director Charles Burnett has been documenting Black struggle for decades, and said he was optimistic about the filmmaking that could emerge from these tumultuous times.
“I look forward, hopefully, that something really amazing will come out of storytellers that talk about this particular period, because this is probably one of the most unusual periods that we’ve confronted in every respect,” he said. “With this pandemic, we don’t know at this moment who’s going to live or die. And it’s frightening in a way — the politics and everything behind it, and the fact...
Director Charles Burnett has been documenting Black struggle for decades, and said he was optimistic about the filmmaking that could emerge from these tumultuous times.
“I look forward, hopefully, that something really amazing will come out of storytellers that talk about this particular period, because this is probably one of the most unusual periods that we’ve confronted in every respect,” he said. “With this pandemic, we don’t know at this moment who’s going to live or die. And it’s frightening in a way — the politics and everything behind it, and the fact...
- 8/11/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
Some of the most exciting documentaries are the ones where the “documentary” label doesn’t do the work justice. Khalik Allah’s work exists within such energizing, unclassifiable terrain. By the time his “Black Mother” surfaced at New Directors/New Films in 2018, Allah had already established his bonafides: In two shorts and a pair of concise features, he has emerged as a genuine auteur, among the best directors documenting Black faces in contemporary cinema. Nevertheless, it takes under four hours to consume almost his entire body of work, save for a new feature that premiered on the festival circuit earlier this year; with the rest of his oeuvre on the Criterion Channel, now’s the ideal time to get caught up.
As both cinematographer and director,...
Some of the most exciting documentaries are the ones where the “documentary” label doesn’t do the work justice. Khalik Allah’s work exists within such energizing, unclassifiable terrain. By the time his “Black Mother” surfaced at New Directors/New Films in 2018, Allah had already established his bonafides: In two shorts and a pair of concise features, he has emerged as a genuine auteur, among the best directors documenting Black faces in contemporary cinema. Nevertheless, it takes under four hours to consume almost his entire body of work, save for a new feature that premiered on the festival circuit earlier this year; with the rest of his oeuvre on the Criterion Channel, now’s the ideal time to get caught up.
As both cinematographer and director,...
- 6/18/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
Some of the most exciting documentaries are the ones where the “documentary” label doesn’t do the work justice. Khalik Allah’s work exists within such energizing, unclassifiable terrain. By the time his “Black Mother” surfaced at New Directors/New Films in 2018, Allah had already established his bonafides: In two shorts and a pair of concise features, he has emerged as a genuine auteur, among the best directors documenting Black faces in contemporary cinema. Nevertheless, it takes under four hours to consume almost his entire body of work, save for a new feature that premiered on the festival circuit earlier this year; with the rest of his oeuvre on the Criterion Channel, now’s the ideal time to get caught up.
As both cinematographer and director,...
Some of the most exciting documentaries are the ones where the “documentary” label doesn’t do the work justice. Khalik Allah’s work exists within such energizing, unclassifiable terrain. By the time his “Black Mother” surfaced at New Directors/New Films in 2018, Allah had already established his bonafides: In two shorts and a pair of concise features, he has emerged as a genuine auteur, among the best directors documenting Black faces in contemporary cinema. Nevertheless, it takes under four hours to consume almost his entire body of work, save for a new feature that premiered on the festival circuit earlier this year; with the rest of his oeuvre on the Criterion Channel, now’s the ideal time to get caught up.
As both cinematographer and director,...
- 6/18/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Thompson on Hollywood
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Free Films Featuring Black Voices
If you’re not able to join your local protest, there are other ways to support the vital fight again injustice and police brutality. And if you’re looking to learn more about the black experience, especially in America, a number of films are now available for free. First up, The Criterion Channel has made available Daughters of the Dust, Losing Ground, Black Mother, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One, The Watermelon Woman, and more films by black filmmakers for free without a subscription. Also available for free on other platforms is Charles Burnett’s landmark film Killer of Sheep, Ava DuVernay’s insightful documentary 13th,...
Free Films Featuring Black Voices
If you’re not able to join your local protest, there are other ways to support the vital fight again injustice and police brutality. And if you’re looking to learn more about the black experience, especially in America, a number of films are now available for free. First up, The Criterion Channel has made available Daughters of the Dust, Losing Ground, Black Mother, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One, The Watermelon Woman, and more films by black filmmakers for free without a subscription. Also available for free on other platforms is Charles Burnett’s landmark film Killer of Sheep, Ava DuVernay’s insightful documentary 13th,...
- 6/5/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
As we continue to live through an American society ripped apart by race, it’s refreshing to look back on the time that a young white filmmaker from the south made a movie with a largely black, non-professional cast of children, without a hint of pretension. In “George Washington,” David Gordon Green doesn’t depict these children as obvious victims of social injustice, nor does he incorporate the usual stereotypical themes that would be expected from a white writer-director telling stories about working class African Americans in the Deep South. Instead, mining the eccentricity of Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep,” Green shows their daily lives during one summer with lucidity and compassion, under the shadow of the elder George Bush’s presidency.
As we continue to live through an American society ripped apart by race, it’s refreshing to look back on the time that a young white filmmaker from the south made a movie with a largely black, non-professional cast of children, without a hint of pretension. In “George Washington,” David Gordon Green doesn’t depict these children as obvious victims of social injustice, nor does he incorporate the usual stereotypical themes that would be expected from a white writer-director telling stories about working class African Americans in the Deep South. Instead, mining the eccentricity of Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep,” Green shows their daily lives during one summer with lucidity and compassion, under the shadow of the elder George Bush’s presidency.
- 5/28/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Oscilloscope Finally Releases ‘Cane River,’ and a Son Seeks His Father’s Long-Lost Filmmaking Legacy
Barely released in 1982 and all but unseen for over three decades, Horace B. Jenkins’ “Cane River” was an independent-film anomaly: a race and colorism-themed love story with an all-black cast, written and directed by a black filmmaker, financed by wealthy black backers. Sadly, Jenkins died the same year — long before the film resurfaced in 2013, when its original negative was discovered in the vault of New York City’s DuArt Film & Video. Seven years later, “Cane River” is getting the release it deserved.
The film first premiered in New Orleans in May 1982. Richard Pryor, then shooting “The Toy” in Baton Rouge, attended the screening in disguise. He loved it so much that he offered to use his star power to help get it out. But the backers, the New Orleans’ Rhodes family — owners of a successful funeral business that has specialized in serving Black families since the Civil War — passed on the offer,...
The film first premiered in New Orleans in May 1982. Richard Pryor, then shooting “The Toy” in Baton Rouge, attended the screening in disguise. He loved it so much that he offered to use his star power to help get it out. But the backers, the New Orleans’ Rhodes family — owners of a successful funeral business that has specialized in serving Black families since the Civil War — passed on the offer,...
- 2/7/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Stars: Danny Glover, Mary Alice, Richard Brooks, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Paul Butler | Written and Directed by Charles Burnett
Made in 1990, the title To Sleep With Anger may make it sound like a straight-to-vhs domestic abuse thriller but this film is actually a sensitive, sad and funny drama about an African-American community in Los Angeles. Although this isn’t the standard Hollywood depiction of black La as a hotbed of gang violence and hopelessness, but instead a middle class made up of the working young and the comfortably retired.
As we join the story, connections are already frayed. Gideon (Paul Butler) and Suzie (Mary Alice) are tired of taking care of their grandson (DeVaughan Nixon), whose parents, Samuel (Richard Brooks) and Linda (Sheryl Lee Ralph), are trying to maintain careers whilst raising a child. Samuel, somewhat disparagingly nicknamed “Babe Brother”, is a reluctant father, and he’s full of repressed rage and resentment.
Made in 1990, the title To Sleep With Anger may make it sound like a straight-to-vhs domestic abuse thriller but this film is actually a sensitive, sad and funny drama about an African-American community in Los Angeles. Although this isn’t the standard Hollywood depiction of black La as a hotbed of gang violence and hopelessness, but instead a middle class made up of the working young and the comfortably retired.
As we join the story, connections are already frayed. Gideon (Paul Butler) and Suzie (Mary Alice) are tired of taking care of their grandson (DeVaughan Nixon), whose parents, Samuel (Richard Brooks) and Linda (Sheryl Lee Ralph), are trying to maintain careers whilst raising a child. Samuel, somewhat disparagingly nicknamed “Babe Brother”, is a reluctant father, and he’s full of repressed rage and resentment.
- 3/25/2019
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
Charles Burnett, director of the classic film “Killer of Sheep,” will develop a new film with Amazon called “Steal Away,” about the true story of Robert Smalls, who commandeered a Confederate ship to save himself and his family from slavery.
At the age of 23, Smalls rallied together a small crew and seized a Confederate ship docked near Fort Sumter in South Carolina. With his wife and two children joining him, Smalls navigated the ship through blockaded waters to the North.
TheWrap’s Trey Williams made the case for why it would be a great movie last year on the “Shoot This Now” podcast, where we talk about stories that should be films. You can listen on Apple or right here:
Also Read: Hollywood Heads to Sundance: 5 Things to Expect, From a Hot Doc Market to Post-Harvey Vetting
After the Civil War, Smalls returned to South Carolina and was elected to the state legislature,...
At the age of 23, Smalls rallied together a small crew and seized a Confederate ship docked near Fort Sumter in South Carolina. With his wife and two children joining him, Smalls navigated the ship through blockaded waters to the North.
TheWrap’s Trey Williams made the case for why it would be a great movie last year on the “Shoot This Now” podcast, where we talk about stories that should be films. You can listen on Apple or right here:
Also Read: Hollywood Heads to Sundance: 5 Things to Expect, From a Hot Doc Market to Post-Harvey Vetting
After the Civil War, Smalls returned to South Carolina and was elected to the state legislature,...
- 1/24/2019
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Amazon Studios is developing the film Steal Away about the daring theft and escape of Robert Smalls, a slave in 1862 Charleston, Sc. To Sleep With Anger filmmaker Charles Burnett is attached to direct with Cotty Chubb and George Plamondon producing. Andy Froemke wrote the script.
With a crew of fellow slaves, their families and Smalls’ own wife and children on board, the young boatman risks his and their lives to steal a paddlewheel steamer. Smalls was assigned to steer the Css Planter, a lightly armed Confederate military transport, and one night while its three officers were away, he put on the captain’s uniform and wore a straw hat similar to the captain’s and navigated it past the five forts guarding Charleston Harbor out into the Atlantic to the blockading Union Navy — and freedom.
After the American Civil War, Smalls returned to his home of Beaufort, Sc and became a politician,...
With a crew of fellow slaves, their families and Smalls’ own wife and children on board, the young boatman risks his and their lives to steal a paddlewheel steamer. Smalls was assigned to steer the Css Planter, a lightly armed Confederate military transport, and one night while its three officers were away, he put on the captain’s uniform and wore a straw hat similar to the captain’s and navigated it past the five forts guarding Charleston Harbor out into the Atlantic to the blockading Union Navy — and freedom.
After the American Civil War, Smalls returned to his home of Beaufort, Sc and became a politician,...
- 1/23/2019
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Every once in a while there comes some serious difficulty in reviewing a film, chiefly one with noble aesthetic and ideological ambitions. Roberto Minervini’s newest work What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? sadly fits that bill. The kind of film that draws hyperbolic descriptors along the lines of “essential” or “searing” from critics and programmers desperate to love it, one’s pulse is not raised much during the two-hour runtime. This is especially disappointing from a director who has made sure to capture parts of America no other filmmakers seem to want to touch with a ten-foot pole.
Equal parts documentarian and dramatist, the director has assembled a distinct if not wholly remarkable body of work. While this writer has written positively about the director’s work in the past, there’s maybe a feeling that the Vice Magazine “freakshow” element of his last picture,...
Equal parts documentarian and dramatist, the director has assembled a distinct if not wholly remarkable body of work. While this writer has written positively about the director’s work in the past, there’s maybe a feeling that the Vice Magazine “freakshow” element of his last picture,...
- 9/15/2018
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
The first installment of Infinite Fest, a monthly column by festival programmer and film critic Eric Allen Hatch, author of the recent “Why I Am Hopeful” article for Filmmaker Magazine, tackling the state of cinema as expressed by North American film festivalsIllustration by Alice Meteignier.The first film festival I ever attended was the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) in 1998. I was there, improbably, as a bonus from my retail job as a manager at Video Americain, Baltimore’s late, great rental shop immortalized in John Waters’ Serial Mom. With me was the manager of another Video Americain location, Sean Williams (perhaps now better known as the cinematographer of films like Queen of Earth and Good Time). It was a whirlwind trip on a tight budget: a frighteningly compact puddle-jumper from Delaware to Buffalo; a rental-car jaunt across the border; two days, one night in Toronto.I was young, glum,...
- 8/13/2018
- MUBI
When the Austin Film Festival first launched 25 years ago, it planted its flag as a place that celebrates the craft of screenwriting. Now every October top screenwriters gather in Austin to talk about and celebrate the art of writing for the big and small screens. Seven years ago, Aff branched out to capture these screenwriting discussions with the “On Story Project,” which they share with the public for free through various formats: a PBS-distributed TV series, a Pri-distributed radio show, a podcast, a book, and an archive hosted at the Wittliff Collections.
In honor of Aff having launched its first ever crowdfunding campaign, dedicated to support the growing On Story Project (which ends today!), IndieWire has collected quotes from some our favorite filmmakers and screenwriters about how they get through the difficulties of writing. Each of these quotes are from in-depth conversation available to download in podcast form.
In honor of Aff having launched its first ever crowdfunding campaign, dedicated to support the growing On Story Project (which ends today!), IndieWire has collected quotes from some our favorite filmmakers and screenwriters about how they get through the difficulties of writing. Each of these quotes are from in-depth conversation available to download in podcast form.
- 5/10/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Some of the most exciting documentaries are the ones where the “documentary” label doesn’t do the work justice. On the basis of his first two features, director Khalik Allah’s work exists within such energizing, unclassifiable terrain. His formally daring, hourlong 2015 breakout “Field Niggas” was a dreamlike assemblage of impoverished Harlem faces, drifting through the after hours in slo-mo set to their philosophical lamentations.
While Allah applied some of his expressionistic approach to cinematography work on Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” the next year, he has continued to hone a daring, non-linear approach to transforming underrepresented stories into dazzling, experimental filmic essays. His latest feature, “Black Mother,” is a challenging and profound deep-dive into Jamaican identity that rewards repeat viewings and confirms the aesthetic of a visionary filmmaker.
As with “Field Niggas,” Allah’s approach has the immersive qualities of installation art, even as he stuffs a preponderance of evocative visuals...
While Allah applied some of his expressionistic approach to cinematography work on Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” the next year, he has continued to hone a daring, non-linear approach to transforming underrepresented stories into dazzling, experimental filmic essays. His latest feature, “Black Mother,” is a challenging and profound deep-dive into Jamaican identity that rewards repeat viewings and confirms the aesthetic of a visionary filmmaker.
As with “Field Niggas,” Allah’s approach has the immersive qualities of installation art, even as he stuffs a preponderance of evocative visuals...
- 4/4/2018
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Over the decades, special or honorary Oscars have gone to everything from a film series to animated shorts to innovators to a ventriloquist to child performers to foreign films. Tour our photo galleries for a look back featuring every performer honored (above) and every non-performer honored (below).
Two special awards were handed out at the first Academy Awards on May 16, 1929:
Charlie Chaplin, who had originally been nominated for lead actor and for comedy direction for his 1928 masterpiece “The Circus,” was withdrawn from those nominations when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Board of Governors gave him a special award for his “versatility in writing, acting, directing and producing” the comedy.
Warner Brothers also picked up a special honorary for producing 1927’s “The Jazz Singer”-“the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry”.
Now called honorary Oscars, Donald Sutherland, cinematographer Owen Roizman (“The French Connection,” “The Exorcist...
Two special awards were handed out at the first Academy Awards on May 16, 1929:
Charlie Chaplin, who had originally been nominated for lead actor and for comedy direction for his 1928 masterpiece “The Circus,” was withdrawn from those nominations when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Board of Governors gave him a special award for his “versatility in writing, acting, directing and producing” the comedy.
Warner Brothers also picked up a special honorary for producing 1927’s “The Jazz Singer”-“the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry”.
Now called honorary Oscars, Donald Sutherland, cinematographer Owen Roizman (“The French Connection,” “The Exorcist...
- 2/27/2018
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
As is annual tradition, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has announced this year’s 25 film set to join the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Selected for their “cultural, historic and/or aesthetic importance,” the films picked range from such beloved actioners as “Die Hard,” childhood classic “The Goonies,” the seminal “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” and the mind-bending “Memento,” with plenty of other genres and styles represented among the list.
The additions span 1905 to 2000, and includes Hollywood blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation, shorts, independent, and even home movies. The 2017 selections bring the number of films in the registry to 725.
“The selection of a film to the National Film Registry recognizes its importance to American cinema and the nation’s cultural and historical heritage,” Hayden said in an official statement. “Our love affair with motion pictures is a testament to their enduring power to enlighten, inspire and...
The additions span 1905 to 2000, and includes Hollywood blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation, shorts, independent, and even home movies. The 2017 selections bring the number of films in the registry to 725.
“The selection of a film to the National Film Registry recognizes its importance to American cinema and the nation’s cultural and historical heritage,” Hayden said in an official statement. “Our love affair with motion pictures is a testament to their enduring power to enlighten, inspire and...
- 12/13/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Since 1989, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been accomplishing the important task of preserving films that “represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.” From films way back in 1897 all the way up to 2004, they’ve now reached 725 films that celebrate our heritage and encapsulate our film history.
Today they’ve unveiled their 2017 list, which includes such Hollywood classics as Die Hard, Titanic, and Superman along with groundbreaking independent features like Yvonne Rainer’s Lives of Performers, Charles Burnett’s To Sleep with Anger, and Barbara Loden’s Wanda. Also making this list are a pair of Kirk Douglas-led features, Ace in the Hole and Spartacus, as well as Christopher Nolan’s Memento and more. Check out the full list below and you can watch some films on the registry for free here.
Ace in the Hole (aka Big Carnival) (1951)
Based on the infamous...
Today they’ve unveiled their 2017 list, which includes such Hollywood classics as Die Hard, Titanic, and Superman along with groundbreaking independent features like Yvonne Rainer’s Lives of Performers, Charles Burnett’s To Sleep with Anger, and Barbara Loden’s Wanda. Also making this list are a pair of Kirk Douglas-led features, Ace in the Hole and Spartacus, as well as Christopher Nolan’s Memento and more. Check out the full list below and you can watch some films on the registry for free here.
Ace in the Hole (aka Big Carnival) (1951)
Based on the infamous...
- 12/13/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“Shitty is shitty,” new Academy governor Whoopi Goldberg told me of the vote to expel a member for the second time in AMPAS’ 90-year history. As everyone in Hollywood struggles to keep their head straight amid a flood of sexual harassment scandals, this year’s crop of Oscar contenders braved Hollywood and Highland traffic snarls to charm a room full of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) members, including the 54 Governors who voted for this year’s five Honorary Oscars, presented at the 9th (untelevised) Governors Awards.
Behind the scenes, Oscar campaigners had pushed their clients as presenters. Clearly, it was a no-brainer to put Jennifer Lawrence (“mother!”) on stage to present to her “Hunger Games” costar Donald Sutherland (“M.A.S.H.,” “Klute,” “Don’t Look Now”), who never scored one Oscar nomination. “It’s odd that he never won an Oscar,” said Lawrence, thanking him for his generosity and...
Behind the scenes, Oscar campaigners had pushed their clients as presenters. Clearly, it was a no-brainer to put Jennifer Lawrence (“mother!”) on stage to present to her “Hunger Games” costar Donald Sutherland (“M.A.S.H.,” “Klute,” “Don’t Look Now”), who never scored one Oscar nomination. “It’s odd that he never won an Oscar,” said Lawrence, thanking him for his generosity and...
- 11/12/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
“Shitty is shitty,” new Academy governor Whoopi Goldberg told me of the vote to expel a member for the second time in AMPAS’ 90-year history. As everyone in Hollywood struggles to keep their head straight amid a flood of sexual harassment scandals, this year’s crop of Oscar contenders braved Hollywood and Highland traffic snarls to charm a room full of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) members, including the 54 Governors who voted for this year’s five Honorary Oscars, presented at the 9th (untelevised) Governors Awards.
Behind the scenes, Oscar campaigners had pushed their clients as presenters. Clearly, it was a no-brainer to put Jennifer Lawrence (“mother!”) on stage to present to her “Hunger Games” costar Donald Sutherland (“M.A.S.H.,” “Klute,” “Don’t Look Now”), who never scored one Oscar nomination. “It’s odd that he never won an Oscar,” said Lawrence, thanking him for his generosity and...
Behind the scenes, Oscar campaigners had pushed their clients as presenters. Clearly, it was a no-brainer to put Jennifer Lawrence (“mother!”) on stage to present to her “Hunger Games” costar Donald Sutherland (“M.A.S.H.,” “Klute,” “Don’t Look Now”), who never scored one Oscar nomination. “It’s odd that he never won an Oscar,” said Lawrence, thanking him for his generosity and...
- 11/12/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
"Tonight, we all aspire to reach higher. We all aspire to dream bigger tonight — to be greater," Steven Spielberg intoned Saturday night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 9th annual Governors Awards, during which which honorary Oscars were presented to actor Donald Sutherland, 82, whose career ranges from Mash to Ordinary People to The Hunger Games franchise; director Charles Burnett, 73, a pioneer in black independent film with movies like 1977’s Killer of Sheep; cinematographer Owen Roizman, 81, who has shot such iconic movies as The French Connection, The Exorcist and Tootsie; and director Agnes Varda, 89, who helped kickstart the French New Wave with...
- 11/11/2017
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
We will be revisiting work from this year's Honorary Oscar winners. Here's Tim on Charles Burnett...
For most of its existence, the 1977 Killer of Sheep existed more in the realm of legend than concrete film history. It was made for a paltry $10,000 by director-producer (-writer-cinemtographer-editor) Charles Burnett as his master's thesis project in UCLA, taking five years to complete. Owing to the substantial expense of securing rights to the music Burnett wished to use, the film was never able to acquire distribution, and for nearly thirty years remained more talked about than seen, though it was fiercely admired by those lucky ones who had attended a screening. It was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1990, but still could only be found mostly by accident, as it flitted around the film underground on increasingly degraded 16mm prints.
In 2007, 30 years after the film was completed, the UCLA Film & Television archive finally...
For most of its existence, the 1977 Killer of Sheep existed more in the realm of legend than concrete film history. It was made for a paltry $10,000 by director-producer (-writer-cinemtographer-editor) Charles Burnett as his master's thesis project in UCLA, taking five years to complete. Owing to the substantial expense of securing rights to the music Burnett wished to use, the film was never able to acquire distribution, and for nearly thirty years remained more talked about than seen, though it was fiercely admired by those lucky ones who had attended a screening. It was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1990, but still could only be found mostly by accident, as it flitted around the film underground on increasingly degraded 16mm prints.
In 2007, 30 years after the film was completed, the UCLA Film & Television archive finally...
- 11/3/2017
- by Tim Brayton
- FilmExperience
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the recipients of honorary Oscars at the 2017 Governors Awards this afternoon and the selections covered a wide spectrum of the industry.
This year’s honorees included filmmakers Charles Burnett and Agnes Varda, actor Donald Sutherland and cinematographer Owen Roizman.
In a statement, new Academy president John Bailey remarked, “This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity.”
Burnett is a pioneer in African American film having written and directed the classics “Killer of Sheep” and “To Sleep With Anger” the latter of which might feature the best work of Danny Glover’s career.
Continue reading Donald Sutherland, Charles Burnett, Agnes Varda Are Your 2017 Governors Awards Honorees at The Playlist.
This year’s honorees included filmmakers Charles Burnett and Agnes Varda, actor Donald Sutherland and cinematographer Owen Roizman.
In a statement, new Academy president John Bailey remarked, “This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity.”
Burnett is a pioneer in African American film having written and directed the classics “Killer of Sheep” and “To Sleep With Anger” the latter of which might feature the best work of Danny Glover’s career.
Continue reading Donald Sutherland, Charles Burnett, Agnes Varda Are Your 2017 Governors Awards Honorees at The Playlist.
- 9/7/2017
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
While it touched all the bases—celebrity, diversity, independence, global reach—the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seemed not quite to hit a home run with its latest round of Governors Awards, announced early Wednesday afternoon. This year, honorary Oscars, to be presented at a dinner on November 11, will go to independent filmmaker Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep), cinematographer Owen Roizman (The French Connection), actor Donald Sutherland (Klute) and…...
- 9/6/2017
- Deadline
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (September 5) to present Honorary Awards to writer-director Charles Burnett, cinematographer Owen Roizman, actor Donald Sutherland and director Agnès Varda. The four Oscar® statuettes will be presented at the Academy’s 9th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 11, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.
“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy President John Bailey.
Born in Mississippi and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Burnett is an independent filmmaker whose work has been praised for its portrayal of the African-American experience. He wrote, directed, produced, photographed and edited his first feature film, “Killer of Sheep,” in 1977. His other features include “My Brother’s Wedding,...
“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy President John Bailey.
Born in Mississippi and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Burnett is an independent filmmaker whose work has been praised for its portrayal of the African-American experience. He wrote, directed, produced, photographed and edited his first feature film, “Killer of Sheep,” in 1977. His other features include “My Brother’s Wedding,...
- 9/6/2017
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Jason from Mnpp here -- the four fine movie folks being given Honorary Oscars this year have been announced and they are (drumroll please) the actor Donald Sutherland, the directors Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) and Agnès Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7), and the cinematographer Owen Roizman (The Exorcist). You can read the statement from the Academy right here, which dives into each of this exemplary quartet's many many accomplishments...
... but can I just get a rowdy huzzah for Donald Sutherland in particular, who has long been the recipient one of my fiercest "How Has He Never Been Nominated Before" battle cries? (I mean Six Degrees of Seperation alone.) And heck the 82 year-old actor is still turning in fine work, so perhaps he's still got a shot. Somebody give this truly grand actor a truly great role again, please. (And now that he's off the checklist maybe next year...
... but can I just get a rowdy huzzah for Donald Sutherland in particular, who has long been the recipient one of my fiercest "How Has He Never Been Nominated Before" battle cries? (I mean Six Degrees of Seperation alone.) And heck the 82 year-old actor is still turning in fine work, so perhaps he's still got a shot. Somebody give this truly grand actor a truly great role again, please. (And now that he's off the checklist maybe next year...
- 9/6/2017
- by JA
- FilmExperience
The annual honorary Governors Awards are when Oscar lobbyists see the first results of the season, and this batch is notable for its global diversity: a Belgian woman filmmaker, a Canadian movie star, and an African-American director. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted September 5, and they go to actor Donald Sutherland, writer-director Agnes Varda, and American independent filmmaker Charles Burnett and cinematographer Owen Roizman.
The statues will be presented November 11 at the 9th annual Governors Awards ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.
“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy president John Bailey.
Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification, and Other Radical Ideas
Never nominated for an Oscar, Canadian-born...
The statues will be presented November 11 at the 9th annual Governors Awards ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.
“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy president John Bailey.
Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification, and Other Radical Ideas
Never nominated for an Oscar, Canadian-born...
- 9/6/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The annual honorary Governors Awards are when Oscar lobbyists see the first results of the season, and this batch is notable for its global diversity: a Belgian woman filmmaker, a Canadian movie star, and an African-American director. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted September 5, and they go to actor Donald Sutherland, writer-director Agnes Varda, and American independent filmmaker Charles Burnett and cinematographer Owen Roizman.
The statues will be presented November 11 at the 9th annualGovernors Awards ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.
“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy president John Bailey.
Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification, and Other Radical Ideas
Canadian-born Sutherland began his career — boasting more...
The statues will be presented November 11 at the 9th annualGovernors Awards ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.
“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy president John Bailey.
Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification, and Other Radical Ideas
Canadian-born Sutherland began his career — boasting more...
- 9/6/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Charles Burnett, Owen Roizman, Donald Sutherland and Agnes Varda will receive Honorary Awards at the 9th Annual Governors Awards on Nov. 11, the Academy announced Wednesday. “This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy President John Bailey in a statement. Burnett is an independent filmmaker whose work has been praised for its portrayal of the African-American experience. He has written, directed, produced, photographed and edited films including his first, “Killer of Sheep,” as well as “My Brother’s Wedding,...
- 9/6/2017
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesRECOMMENDED VIEWINGThe first full trailer for Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve's sequel to Ridley Scott's original starring Ryan Gosling alongside Harrison Ford, looks like a storyboard come to (digital) life.An all-too-brief look at some kind of footage from the new Twin Peaks, with Everett McGill, Harry Dean Stanton, Grace Zabriskie, Harry Goaz, Michael Horse, and Kyle MacLachlan looking like figures in an eerie waxworks.Milestone will soon be theatrically releasing a new restoration of Billy Woodberry's debut film, Bless Their Little Hearts (1983), written and shot by Killer of Sheep's Charles Burnett.Philippe Garrel meets David Lynch? Indeed! In a new video essay, Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin look at the "holy family" (mother, father, and child) in early experimental films by each director, Lynch's The Grandmother (1969) and Garrel's Le révélateur (1968), the latter of which is now playing on Mubi.
- 5/10/2017
- MUBI
Twenty years ago, Cheryl Dunye made history as the first African-American lesbian to direct a feature-length film. Now that film, The Watermelon Woman, has finally been given a proper DVD release, courtesy of First Run Features. To mark the occasion, we spoke on the phone with Dunye about the film, history, performance, and authenticity.
The Film Stage: Both The Watermelon Woman and the short that’s included on the new DVD, Black Is Blue, express a high level of commitment and detail in the recreation of documentary form. What documentaries and / or mockumentaries influenced you?
Cheryl Dunye: I’ve been working in this practice since the late ‘80s. I went to Rutgers and had a studio practice there, got my Mfa, and that’s where I discovered what was becoming the queer film world. There was a lack of identity, representation — in the work that was being seen — by,...
The Film Stage: Both The Watermelon Woman and the short that’s included on the new DVD, Black Is Blue, express a high level of commitment and detail in the recreation of documentary form. What documentaries and / or mockumentaries influenced you?
Cheryl Dunye: I’ve been working in this practice since the late ‘80s. I went to Rutgers and had a studio practice there, got my Mfa, and that’s where I discovered what was becoming the queer film world. There was a lack of identity, representation — in the work that was being seen — by,...
- 2/6/2017
- by Daniel Schindel
- The Film Stage
The 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam got underway last night with stars and political messages aplenty.
With the Nertherlands’ King Willem-Alexander due to attend tomorrow night’s world premiere of Ernest Dickerson’s Double Play and multi-Oscar nominee Barry Jenkins already in town, International Film Festival Rotterdam, which launched its 46th edition last night, has a more starry feel than usual.
The festival prides itself on being a melting pot of cultural and political views, something expressed by festival director Bero Beyer who in his second edition at the helm gave a wide-ranging speech in which he explained the concept behind this year’s ‘Planet Iffr’ concept.
“We can be entertained and enchanted, confused, scared, soothed and seduced in many different ways by the stories that are told and by the way they come to us. This state-of-mind where we can experience other views, where we can experience time itself through the art of cinema: that is...
With the Nertherlands’ King Willem-Alexander due to attend tomorrow night’s world premiere of Ernest Dickerson’s Double Play and multi-Oscar nominee Barry Jenkins already in town, International Film Festival Rotterdam, which launched its 46th edition last night, has a more starry feel than usual.
The festival prides itself on being a melting pot of cultural and political views, something expressed by festival director Bero Beyer who in his second edition at the helm gave a wide-ranging speech in which he explained the concept behind this year’s ‘Planet Iffr’ concept.
“We can be entertained and enchanted, confused, scared, soothed and seduced in many different ways by the stories that are told and by the way they come to us. This state-of-mind where we can experience other views, where we can experience time itself through the art of cinema: that is...
- 1/26/2017
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
The new romance musical “La La Land” will hit New York and Los Angeles this Friday, but the film has already garnered widespread acclaim from critics and audiences on the festival circuit and recently received the Best Film award from the New York Film Critics Circle. The film follows a musician (Ryan Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) who meet and fall in love in the heart of Los Angeles. In honor of his new film’s release, Fandango asked Chazelle for his top 10 Los Angeles films.
Read More: ‘La La Land’ Review: A Lively Supercut of Classic Musicals Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
“Countless movies have shot in Los Angeles,” says Chazelle, “and in many of them the city emerges as a character in its own right: sometimes beautiful, sometimes ominous, always fascinating. I picked the following great L.A. movies because each captures a distinct time,...
Read More: ‘La La Land’ Review: A Lively Supercut of Classic Musicals Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone
“Countless movies have shot in Los Angeles,” says Chazelle, “and in many of them the city emerges as a character in its own right: sometimes beautiful, sometimes ominous, always fascinating. I picked the following great L.A. movies because each captures a distinct time,...
- 12/6/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Director Charles Burnett’s Killer Of Sheep screens Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1:30pm at The St. Louis Public Library (1301 Olive St.). Director Burnett, a Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, and scholar Rebecca Wanzo (Washington U. associate professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and associate director of the Center for the Humanities) will be in attendance. This is a Free event. Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger screens Sunday, Nov. 6 at 8:00pm at The Tivoli Theater. Burnett and Ms Wanzo will be in attendance at that screening as well. It is also a Free event.
Sliff honors legendary filmmaker Charles Burnett with a Lifetime Achievement Award and screens a pair of his finest works — Killer Of Sheep and the new restoration of To Sleep With Anger. Burnett’s Killer Of Sheep focuses on everyday life in black communities in a manner unseen in American cinema, combining lyrical elements with a starkly neo-realist,...
Sliff honors legendary filmmaker Charles Burnett with a Lifetime Achievement Award and screens a pair of his finest works — Killer Of Sheep and the new restoration of To Sleep With Anger. Burnett’s Killer Of Sheep focuses on everyday life in black communities in a manner unseen in American cinema, combining lyrical elements with a starkly neo-realist,...
- 11/3/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The schedule for the 25th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) has been announced and once again film goers will be offered the best in cutting edge features and shorts from around the globe. The festival takes place November 3-13, 2016.
Sliff kicks off on November 3 with the opening-night selection St. Louis Brews, the latest home-brewed documentary by local filmmaker Bill Streeter, director of Brick By Chance And Fortune: A St. Louis Story (read my interview with Bill Here)
According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: Actress Karen Allen (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Animal House), director Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep, To Sleep With Anger), winner of the Cinema St. Louis Lifetime Achievement Award; and director Steve James (Hoop Dreams).
Full information on Sliff films, including synopses, dates/time, and links for purchase of advance tickets is available on the Cinema St.
Sliff kicks off on November 3 with the opening-night selection St. Louis Brews, the latest home-brewed documentary by local filmmaker Bill Streeter, director of Brick By Chance And Fortune: A St. Louis Story (read my interview with Bill Here)
According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: Actress Karen Allen (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Animal House), director Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep, To Sleep With Anger), winner of the Cinema St. Louis Lifetime Achievement Award; and director Steve James (Hoop Dreams).
Full information on Sliff films, including synopses, dates/time, and links for purchase of advance tickets is available on the Cinema St.
- 10/14/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The St. Louis Central Library downtown (1301 Olive Blvd) is teaming up with Cinema St. Louis and the St. Louis International Film Festival to present Directors Cut: The Films Of Charles Burnett.
Charles Burnett is a writer-director whose work has received extensive honors. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, his family soon moved to the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Burnett studied creative writing at UCLA before entering the University’s graduate film program. His thesis project, Killer of Sheep (1977), won accolades at film festivals and a critical devotion; in 1990, it was among the first titles named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. European financing allowed Burnett to shoot his second feature, My Brother’s Wedding (1983), but a rushed debut prevented the filmmaker from completing his final cut until 2007. In 1988, Burnett was awarded the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur (“genius grant”) Fellowship. His first widely released film, To Sleep with Anger...
Charles Burnett is a writer-director whose work has received extensive honors. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, his family soon moved to the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Burnett studied creative writing at UCLA before entering the University’s graduate film program. His thesis project, Killer of Sheep (1977), won accolades at film festivals and a critical devotion; in 1990, it was among the first titles named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. European financing allowed Burnett to shoot his second feature, My Brother’s Wedding (1983), but a rushed debut prevented the filmmaker from completing his final cut until 2007. In 1988, Burnett was awarded the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur (“genius grant”) Fellowship. His first widely released film, To Sleep with Anger...
- 10/14/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Moonlight A24 Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B+ Director: Barry Jenkins Written by: Barry Jenkins, story by Tarell Alvin McCraney Cast: Naomie Harris, André Holland, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe, Trevante Rhodes, Alex R. Hibbert, Jaden Piner Screened at: Dolby88, NYC, 9/21/16 Opens: October 21, 2016 Consider this in the top tier of films about the African-American experience, ranking along with “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Nothing But a Man” and “Killer of Sheep.” “Moonlight” does not concern itself with integration controversies but sports a 100% African-American cast. This entry comes with the reliable direction of Barry Jenkins, whose 2008 film “Medicine for Melancholy” deals with twenty-four hours in the [ Read More ]
The post Moonlight Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Moonlight Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/13/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Filmed in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma, this silent tale of Native American life has an all-Kiowa and Comanche cast, and is credited as accurately recreating cultural details and costumes. Thought lost for the better part of a century, it was rediscovered just a few years ago. The Daughter of Dawn Blu-ray The Milestone Cinematheque 1920 / B&W (tinted) / 1:33 Silent Ap / 80 min. / Street Date July 19, 2016 / vailable through Mvd Entertainment / 27.96 Starring Esther LeBarre, White Parker, Belo Cozad, Hunting Horse, Wanada Parker. Produced by Richard Banks New Music Score David Yeagley Written by Richard Banks, Norbert Myles Produced by Richard Banks Directed by Norbert Myles
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
"Constancy, thy name is Red Wing!" Ethnographer alert! As one of the go-to destinations for unusual or difficult cinema discoveries, Milestone Films' Dennis Doros and Amy Heller has turned out exceptionally good theatrical and home video restorations of important films like The Exiles,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
"Constancy, thy name is Red Wing!" Ethnographer alert! As one of the go-to destinations for unusual or difficult cinema discoveries, Milestone Films' Dennis Doros and Amy Heller has turned out exceptionally good theatrical and home video restorations of important films like The Exiles,...
- 7/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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